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There is a difference in the way the term "turnover" and the term "rev
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Updated on: 25 Jan 2019, 03:22

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There is a difference in the way the term "turnover" and the term "revenue" is used in business across the Atlantic; in the United States, "turnover" refers to how rapidly the inventory acquisition and transaction occurs whereas in Europe "turnover" refers to a company's income, known in the States as revenue.

(A) way the term "turnover" and the term "revenue" is used in business across the Atlantic; in the States, "turnover" refers to how rapidly the inventory acquisition and transaction occurs whereas

(B) use of the term "turnover" and the term "revenue" in business across the Atlantic; in the United States, "turnover" refers to how rapidly the inventory acquisition and transaction occurs whereas

(C) way the term "turnover" and the term "revenue" are used in business across the Atlantic; in the United States, "turnover" refers to how rapidly the inventory acquisition and transaction occur since

(D) usage of the term "turnover" and the term "revenue" in business across the Atlantic; the rapidness of inventory acquisition and transaction is called "turnover" in the United States whereas

(E) way the term "turnover" and the term "revenue" are used in business across the Atlantic; in the United States, the rate at which the inventory acquisition and transaction occur are called "turnover" whereas

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Re: There is a difference in the way the term "turnover" and the term "rev
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23 May 2014, 13:42

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shailendrasharma wrote:

There is a difference in the way the term "turnover" and the term "revenue" is used in business across the Atlantic; in the United States, "turnover" refers to how rapidly the inventory acquisition and transaction occurs whereas in Europe "turnover" refers to a company's income, known in the States as revenue.

(A) way the term "turnover" and the term "revenue" is used in business across the Atlantic; in the States, "turnover" refers to how rapidly the inventory acquisition and transaction occurs whereas

(B) use of the term "turnover" and the term "revenue" in business across the Atlantic; in the United States, "turnover" refers to how rapidly the inventory acquisition and transaction occurs whereas

(C) way the term "turnover" and the term "revenue" are used in business across the Atlantic; in the United States, "turnover" refers to how rapidly the inventory acquisition and transaction occur since

(D) usage of the term "turnover" and the term "revenue" in business across the Atlantic; the rapidness of inventory acquisition and transaction is called "turnover" in the United States whereas

(E) way the term "turnover" and the term "revenue" are used in business across the Atlantic; in the United States, the rate at which the inventory acquisition and transaction occur are called "turnover" whereas

JusTLucK04 wrote:

Rejected D for parallelism...Can you please explain how it is correct?

Dear JusTLucK04I'm happy to respond.

I am not a huge fan of this question. I will say, the question does all kinds of sophisticated things with rhetoric, and the rhetorical differences have students analyzing all kinds of things, but much of the question actually hinges on subject-verb agreement (SVA). See: http://magoosh.com/gmat/2013/subject-ve ... orrection/

Let's look at this: There is a difference in the way the term "turnover" and the term "revenue" is used in business across the Atlantic; in the United States, "turnover" refers to how rapidly the inventory acquisition and transaction occurs whereas in Europe "turnover" refers to a company's income, known in the States as revenue.(A)way the term "turnover" and the term "revenue" is used in business across the Atlantic; in the States, "turnover" refers to how rapidly the inventory acquisition and transaction occurs whereasOK, this answer is clearly wrong. The structure "the way the term is used" is extremely casual, not formal. Also, there's a clear SVA problem: the term "turnover" and the term "revenue"isused. Compound subjects require plural verbs. This choice is 100% wrong.

(B)use of the term "turnover" and the term "revenue" in business across the Atlantic; in the United States, "turnover" refers to how rapidly the inventory acquisition and transaction occurs whereasThis one arguably may have a SVA problem: "the inventory acquisition and transactionoccurs." Hmmm. If we read literally, and consider those as different things, (i) "the inventory acquisition" and (ii) "transaction," then of course, we would need a plural verb. The problem is --- we are not necessarily familiar with the concept, and the way it is stated, both modified by the noun "inventory", suggests that it might be construed as a singular aggregate. In other words, it is conceivable that "the inventory acquisition and transaction" is a single thing, despite the "and" in the name, and needs a singular verb. Admittedly, the GMAT itself would never give such a thing and expect us to realize that it needed a singular verb, but such things do exist in the language ( e.g. "a bed and breakfast", "salt and paper is on the table", etc.). The way this is phrased makes it unclear whether it should fit in the aggregate-construed-as-singular category, and because of this, I would call this answer "gray", in between, not clearly right but not unambiguously wrong.

(C)way the term "turnover" and the term "revenue" are used in business across the Atlantic; in the United States, "turnover" refers to how rapidly the inventory acquisition and transaction occur sinceAgain, we have the casual structure, "the way the terms are used." Also, the "since" at the end implies an illogical cause-effect relationship that is not present in the prompt and is not justified by context. This is 100% wrong.

(D)usage of the term "turnover" and the term "revenue" in business across the Atlantic; the rapidness of inventory acquisition and transaction is called "turnover" in the United States whereasNothing wrong. Could be an answer.

(E)way the term "turnover" and the term "revenue" are used in business across the Atlantic; in the United States, the rate at which the inventory acquisition and transaction occur are called "turnover" whereasAgain, we have the casual structure, "the way the terms are used." Also, a clear SVA problem "the rate ... arecalled." This is 100% wrong.

OK, at least (A) & (C) & (E) are unambiguously wrong. Choice (D) is somewhat unconventional rhetorically in the second part of the underlined section, but this is not wrong: it is well within the limits of valid parallelism. When two clauses are in parallel, that doesn't necessarily mean that they are in lockstep in their word order; for a variety of rhetorical reasons, it may be appropriate to vary the word orders in two parallel clauses. The real problem in my mind is (B), which implies a relatively obscure structure that could be interpreted differently. This is what happens when folks who really don't understand the deep logic of GMAT SC questions try to write challenging questions. This may be why this question has generated so much discussion on this page. A good solid GMAT question has one completely clear right answer and four choices that are each unambiguously wrong. I'm just not happy with this question.

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Re: There is a difference in the way the term "turnover" and the term "rev
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14 Jul 2013, 09:24

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34

shailendrasharma wrote:

There is a difference in the way the term turnover and the term revenue is used in business across the Atlantic; in the United States, turnover refers to how rapidly the inventory acquisition and transaction occurs whereas in Europe turnover refers to a company's income, known in the States as revenue.

(A) way the term turnover and the term revenue is used in business across the Atlantic; in the States, turnover refers to how rapidly the inventory acquisition and transaction occurs whereas

(B) use of the term turnover and the term revenue in business across the Atlantic; in the United States, turnover refers to how rapidly the inventory acquisition and transaction occurs whereas

(C) way the term turnover and the term revenue are used in business across the Atlantic; in the United States, turnover refers to how rapidly the inventory acquisition and transaction occur since

(D) usage of the term turnover and the term revenue in business across the Atlantic; the rapidness of inventory acquisition and transaction is called turnover in the United States whereas

(E) way the term turnover and the term revenue are used in business across the Atlantic; in the United States, the rate at which the inventory acquisition and transaction occur are called turnover whereas

hi,

(A) way the term turnover and the term revenue is used in business across the Atlantic; in the States, turnover refers to how rapidly the inventory acquisition and transaction occurs whereas===>

in the way...makes it wordier///IS is wrong...we need plural verb ARE/////REFERS TO should be followed by NOUN==>INCORRECT

(B) use of the term turnover and the term revenue in business across the Atlantic; in the United States, turnover refers to how rapidly the inventory acquisition and transaction occurs whereas====>

USAGE will be prefered over USE (here)////REFERS TO...SHOULD BE FOLLOWED BY NOUN===>INCORRECT

(C) way the term turnover and the term revenue are used in business across the Atlantic; in the United States, turnover refers to how rapidly the inventory acquisition and transaction occur since

IN THE WAY: adds to wordiness.///refers to should be followed by NOUN///USE OF SINCE is wrong..we need contrasting word here

(D) usage of the term turnover and the term revenue in business across the Atlantic; the rapidness of inventory acquisition and transaction is called turnover in the United States whereas===>correct

(E) way the term turnover and the term revenue are used in business across the Atlantic; in the United States, the rate at which the inventory acquisition and transaction occur are called turnover whereas===>

IN THE WAY : adds to wordiness////rate at which is unidiomatic//// verb for THE RATE should be IS and not ARE.

hope it helps
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General Discussion

Re: There is a difference in the way the term "turnover" and the term "rev
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14 Jul 2013, 08:42

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2

IMO C.

(A) way the term turnover and the term revenue is used in business across the Atlantic; in the States, turnover refers to how rapidly the inventory acquisition and transaction occurs whereas- The verb should be in plural ie. "are", Hence incorrect.

(B) use of the term turnover and the term revenue in business across the Atlantic; in the United States, turnover refers to how rapidly the inventory acquisition and transaction occurs whereas-"use" is a noun. Additionally, IMO to maintain parallelism in the first clause, it should be "of the term revenue". Hence incorrect

(C) way the term turnover and the term revenue are used in business across the Atlantic; in the United States, turnover refers to how rapidly the inventory acquisition and transaction occur since-"are used..." correctly uses the verb form. Also, in the United States, turnover refers to... is parallel to "in Europe turnover refers to...". Hence correct.

(D) usage of the term turnover and the term revenue in business across the Atlantic; the rapidness of inventory acquisition and transaction is called turnover in the United States whereas-Refer explanation of option (c). The parallelism in 2nd clause is violated in this option. Hence incorrect

(E) way the term turnover and the term revenue are used in business across the Atlantic; in the United States, the rate at which the inventory acquisition and transaction occur are called turnover whereas-Refer explanation of option (c). The parallelism in 2nd clause is violated in this option. Hence incorrect

Re: There is a difference in the way the term "turnover" and the term "rev
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27 Jul 2013, 20:05

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There is a difference in the way the term turnover and the term revenue is used in business across the Atlantic; in the United States, turnover refers to how rapidly the inventory acquisition and transaction occurs whereas in Europe turnover refers to a company's income, known in the States as revenue.(A) way the term turnover and the term revenue is used in business across the Atlantic; in the States, turnover refers to how rapidly the inventory acquisition and transaction occurs whereas ARE must be used instead of IS coz subject "way the term turnover and way the term revenue" is Plural. OCCUR must be used instead of OCCURS coz the subject " the inventory acquisition and transaction ( X and Y)" is plural. Thus Incorrect

(B) use of the term turnover and the term revenue in business across the Atlantic; in the United States, turnover refers to how rapidly the inventory acquisition and transaction occurs whereasOCCUR must be used instead of OCCURS coz the subject " the inventory acquisition and transaction ( X and Y)" is plural. Thus Incorrect

(C) way the term turnover and the term revenue are used in business across the Atlantic; in the United States, turnover refers to how rapidly the inventory acquisition and transaction occur since- Author want to make comparison rather than to give Reason why something happened. Thus Incorrect

(D) usage of the term turnover and the term revenue in business across the Atlantic; the rapidness of inventory acquisition and transaction is called turnover in the United States whereas - CORRECT

(E) way the term turnover and the term revenue are used in business across the Atlantic; in the United States, the rate at which the inventory acquisition and transaction occur are called turnover whereasSingular verb (IS) must be used instead of ARE coz the subject "RATE" is singular. Thus Incorrect

blueseas wrote:

RAPIDLY ==>This is an adverbadverb ==>they either modify verb ...or adjective...in this case it is modifying THE ACQUISITION which is a noun ...hence wrong.HOW RAPIDLY THE INVENTORY ...=>This is incorrect construction.

Hi Blueseas, RAPIDLY is not modifying any Noun in option B. It is correctly modifying VERB OCCURS (RAPIDLY..... OCCURS)
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Re: There is a difference in the way the term "turnover" and the term "rev
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10 May 2014, 07:58

What this really boils down to is identifying that "usage" is the correct word to use in the first clause. Usage is rarely used correctly; however, since we are discussing the use of language it is correct.

I agree the second phrase sounds awkward with "rapidness" but excluding that piece, the remainder of the phrase is succinct as compared to the other options.

Re: There is a difference in the way the term "turnover" and the term "rev
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10 May 2014, 09:57

1

There is a difference in the way the term turnover and the term revenue is used in business across the Atlantic; in the United States, turnover refers to how rapidly the inventory acquisition and transaction occurs whereas in Europe turnover refers to a company's income, known in the States as revenue.

1- meaning analysis: the term turnover and the term revenue have different usage in business across the Atlantic; turnover refers to how rapidly the inventory acquisition and transaction occur whereas in Europe turnover refers to a company's income, known in the States as revenue.

2- error analysis: SV error : the term turnover and the term revenue is used : arehow rapidly the inventory acquisition and transaction occursoccur

3- POE:

A) B) use of the term turnover and the term revenue in business across the Atlantic; in the United States, turnover refers to how rapidly the inventory acquisition and transaction occurs whereas

C) way the term turnover and the term revenue are used in business across the Atlantic; in the United States, turnover refers to how rapidly the inventory acquisition and transaction occur sincethe usage of since is incorrect here

D) usage of the term turnover and the term revenue in business across the Atlantic; the rapidness of inventory acquisition and transaction is called turnover in the United States whereasalthough it sounds awkward but it does not have grammatical error. so it wins

E) way the term turnover and the term revenue are used in business across the Atlantic; in the United States, the rate at which the inventory acquisition and transaction occur are called turnover whereasthe rate is called turnover

Re: There is a difference in the way the term "turnover" and the term "rev
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24 May 2014, 15:45

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JusTLucK04 wrote:

Thanks a lot for the superb explanation..I had the same doubts on B and in fact I selected B .. Can we ever expect to see such parallelism on the GMAT..??

Dear JusTLucK04,I'm happy to respond.

Here's the OA, version (D):There is a difference in the usage of the term "turnover" and the term "revenue" in business across the Atlantic; the rapidness of inventory acquisition and transaction is called "turnover" in the United States whereas in Europe "turnover" refers to a company's income, known in the States as "revenue."

There is absolutely nothing in the least wrong with the parallelism here. Rhetorically, it's very clever --- by putting the word "turnover" near the end of the first clause and near the beginning of the second, the writer really heightens the sense of contrast inherent in the uses of the word. This is very sophisticated, and sophisticated writing often appears on the real GMAT. Does this make sense?

Re: There is a difference in the way the term "turnover" and the term "rev
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10 Jul 2014, 06:29

There is a difference in the way the term "turnover" and the term "revenue" is used in business across the Atlantic - is should be arein the States, "turnover" refers to how rapidly the inventory acquisition and transaction occurs whereas - occurs should be occur

(A) way the term "turnover" and the term "revenue" is used in business across the Atlantic; in the States, "turnover" refers to how rapidly the inventory acquisition and transaction occurs whereas - Incorrect. SV error

(B) use of the term "turnover" and the term "revenue" in business across the Atlantic; in the United States, "turnover" refers to how rapidly the inventory acquisition and transaction occurs whereas - Incorrect. SV error

(C) way the term "turnover" and the term "revenue" are used in business across the Atlantic; in the United States, "turnover" refers to how rapidly the inventory acquisition and transaction occur since - Incorrect. whereas shows the contrast. since is incorrectly used here

(D) usage of the term "turnover" and the term "revenue" in business across the Atlantic; the rapidness of inventory acquisition and transaction is called "turnover" in the United States whereas - Correct.

(E) way the term "turnover" and the term "revenue" are used in business across the Atlantic; in the United States, the rate at which the inventory acquisition and transaction occur are called "turnover" whereas - Incorrect. the rate are has SV error.

Re: There is a difference in the way the term "turnover" and the term "rev
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Updated on: 20 Sep 2015, 10:47

2

There is a difference in the way the term "turnover" and the term "revenue" is used in business across the Atlantic; in the United States, "turnover" refers to how rapidly the inventory acquisition and transaction occurs whereas in Europe "turnover" refers to a company's income, known in the States as revenue.

There are two errors in given sentence1. term x and term y are two terms hence singular verb is is not correct.2. the inventory acquisition and transaction are two terms hence singular verb occursis not correct.

(B) use of the term "turnover" and the term "revenue" in business across the Atlantic; in the United States, "turnover" refers to how rapidly the inventory acquisition and transaction occurs whereas

use of term is absurd.error 2 repeats.

(C) way the term "turnover" and the term "revenue" are used in business across the Atlantic; in the United States, "turnover" refers to how rapidly the inventory acquisition and transaction occur since

(E) way the term "turnover" and the term "revenue" are used in business across the Atlantic; in the United States, the rate at which the inventory acquisition and transaction occur are called "turnover" whereas

Re: There is a difference in the way the term "turnover" and the term "rev
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20 Sep 2015, 10:52

1

roopika2990 wrote:

Doesn't D have a parallelism issue?

if u insert D into given sentence, it becomes the following

There is a difference in the usage of the term "turnover" and the term "revenue" in business across the Atlantic;the rapidness of inventory acquisition and transaction is called "turnover" in the United States whereas in Europe "turnover" refers to a company's income, known in the States as revenue.

verb is removed so singular/plural verb problem is removed.rapidness has correct verb is.both the terms are parallel

Re: There is a difference in the way the term "turnover" and the term "rev
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19 Nov 2015, 16:06

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anonimo wrote:

mikemcgarry wrote:

JusTLucK04 wrote:

Thanks a lot for the superb explanation..I had the same doubts on B and in fact I selected B .. Can we ever expect to see such parallelism on the GMAT..??

Dear JusTLucK04,I'm happy to respond.

Here's the OA, version (D):There is a difference in the usage of the term "turnover" and the term "revenue" in business across the Atlantic; the rapidness of inventory acquisition and transaction is called "turnover" in the United States whereas in Europe "turnover" refers to a company's income, known in the States as "revenue."

There is absolutely nothing in the least wrong with the parallelism here. Rhetorically, it's very clever --- by putting the word "turnover" near the end of the first clause and near the beginning of the second, the writer really heightens the sense of contrast inherent in the uses of the word. This is very sophisticated, and sophisticated writing often appears on the real GMAT. Does this make sense?

Mike

Hi mike, first of all I wanted to thank you for your answer. Now, I can't see parallelism in that answer. How is parallel: 1 the rapid news of the inventory acquisition in the US, with 2 turnover refers in Europe. Kudos for you if I get to understand how this can be parallel. Thanks

Dear anonimo,I'm happy to respond.

Parallelism is an abstract pattern of matching between grammatical elements. If the elements are small (two direct objects, two prepositional phrases), then we probably will see the same word order reflected in each branch of the parallelism. When clauses are in parallel, there is absolutely no requirement that the two clauses have the same word order in every part. Sometimes a detailed pattern of matching word order is created for rhetorical effect, but it is most certainly not a grammatical necessity.

All we need for parallelism of clauses is the proper way to join them. The word "whereas" can join two clauses. Grammatically, all we need is[full independent clause #1] "whereas" [full independent clause #2]Once again, grammatically, there is absolutely no requirement that the two clauses have anything in common. One could be active and one passive. One could be short and one could be long. One could have a subordinate clause even though the other doesn't. The logic of the word "whereas" requires that the two clauses discuss contrasting aspects of the same topic.

In this sentence, we have[full independent clause #1] = "the rapidness of inventory acquisition and transaction is called 'turnover' in the United States"[full independent clause #2] = "in Europe, 'turnover' refers to a company's income, known in the States as 'revenue.'"Each one, on its own, is a complete sentence: that's a grammatical requirement. The two discuss contrasting elements of the same topic: that's a logical requirement. Clause #1 is passive and clause #2 is passive --- this doesn't matter at all. Clause #2 has a noun modifier phrase, a participial phrase, and clause #1 doesn't ---- this doesn't matter at all. Clause #1 mentions the word "turnover" at the end, and clause #2 mentions it at the beginning --- this doesn't matter at all.

This last point is interesting. In some contexts, a writer might have rhetorical reasons for mentioning the same term in the same place in the two clauses, but here, the writer heightens the contrast by mentioned the term "turnover" in completely different places in the two clauses. This is purely a rhetorical issue, not a grammatical issue.

Thus, if we join these two clauses with the word "whereas," we have perfect parallelism. Folks sometimes mistakenly have a very simplistic understanding of parallelism. Parallelism is not primarily a grammatical construction: instead, it is primarily a logical construction. It implies a logical pattern of matching, but this does not necessarily require a strict piece-by-piece mechanical sort of matching. You see, in GMAT SC, there are issues at three different levels: grammatical, logical, and rhetorical. To be successful on GMAT SC, you have to thinking at all three levels. You can't afford to be mechanical or simplistic: the GMAT will punish such thinking.

Re: There is a difference in the way the term "turnover" and the term "rev
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02 Feb 2016, 22:36

mikemcgarry wrote:

shailendrasharma wrote:

There is a difference in the way the term "turnover" and the term "revenue" is used in business across the Atlantic; in the United States, "turnover" refers to how rapidly the inventory acquisition and transaction occurs whereas in Europe "turnover" refers to a company's income, known in the States as revenue.

(A) way the term "turnover" and the term "revenue" is used in business across the Atlantic; in the States, "turnover" refers to how rapidly the inventory acquisition and transaction occurs whereas

(B) use of the term "turnover" and the term "revenue" in business across the Atlantic; in the United States, "turnover" refers to how rapidly the inventory acquisition and transaction occurs whereas

(C) way the term "turnover" and the term "revenue" are used in business across the Atlantic; in the United States, "turnover" refers to how rapidly the inventory acquisition and transaction occur since

(D) usage of the term "turnover" and the term "revenue" in business across the Atlantic; the rapidness of inventory acquisition and transaction is called "turnover" in the United States whereas

(E) way the term "turnover" and the term "revenue" are used in business across the Atlantic; in the United States, the rate at which the inventory acquisition and transaction occur are called "turnover" whereas

JusTLucK04 wrote:

Rejected D for parallelism...Can you please explain how it is correct?

Dear JusTLucK04I'm happy to respond.

I am not a huge fan of this question. I will say, the question does all kinds of sophisticated things with rhetoric, and the rhetorical differences have students analyzing all kinds of things, but much of the question actually hinges on subject-verb agreement (SVA). See: http://magoosh.com/gmat/2013/subject-ve ... orrection/

Let's look at this: There is a difference in the way the term "turnover" and the term "revenue" is used in business across the Atlantic; in the United States, "turnover" refers to how rapidly the inventory acquisition and transaction occurs whereas in Europe "turnover" refers to a company's income, known in the States as revenue.(A)way the term "turnover" and the term "revenue" is used in business across the Atlantic; in the States, "turnover" refers to how rapidly the inventory acquisition and transaction occurs whereasOK, this answer is clearly wrong. The structure "the way the term is used" is extremely casual, not formal. Also, there's a clear SVA problem: the term "turnover" and the term "revenue"isused. Compound subjects require plural verbs. This choice is 100% wrong.

(B)use of the term "turnover" and the term "revenue" in business across the Atlantic; in the United States, "turnover" refers to how rapidly the inventory acquisition and transaction occurs whereasThis one arguably may have a SVA problem: "the inventory acquisition and transactionoccurs." Hmmm. If we read literally, and consider those as different things, (i) "the inventory acquisition" and (ii) "transaction," then of course, we would need a plural verb. The problem is --- we are not necessarily familiar with the concept, and the way it is stated, both modified by the noun "inventory", suggests that it might be construed as a singular aggregate. In other words, it is conceivable that "the inventory acquisition and transaction" is a single thing, despite the "and" in the name, and needs a singular verb. Admittedly, the GMAT itself would never give such a thing and expect us to realize that it needed a singular verb, but such things do exist in the language ( e.g. "a bed and breakfast", "salt and paper is on the table", etc.). The way this is phrased makes it unclear whether it should fit in the aggregate-construed-as-singular category, and because of this, I would call this answer "gray", in between, not clearly right but not unambiguously wrong.

Re: There is a difference in the way the term "turnover" and the term "rev
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03 Feb 2016, 13:51

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RAHKARP27071989 wrote:

Hi mikemcgarry,

Thanks alot for such a detailed explanation..:D

But I still have few things to ask in option B.

(B) use of the term "turnover" and the term "revenue" in business across the Atlantic; in the United States, "turnover" refers to how rapidly the inventory acquisition and transaction occurs whereas

Query 1-If we read-"turnover" refers to how rapidly the inventory acquisition and transaction occurs

As you said if we take the inventory acquisition and transaction as compound subject as1- The inventory acquisition + 2) Transaction---> Then we need plural verb "OCCUR"

But, if we take it as singular subject as1- The inventory acquisition and The inventory transaction--> Then its a sub-element so here we need singular verb OCCURS

As this choice doesn't make it clear-- Therefore we eliminate it

But, I have one more thing to ask--> If we read

how rapidly the inventory acquisition and transaction occurs--> Isn't its a noun phrase for which we definitely need singular verb "OCCURS"

Eg-

How he did it are surprising.Subject is noun phrase "How he did it"and noun phrase needs singular verb

Whats wrong here..??

Query 2-

In the above-mentioned post on of GMAT aspirant said that "turnover"[b] refers to how rapidly the inventory acquisition and transaction occurs[/b]"Refers to" should be followed by NOUN.. Is it so..??

Or Refers to should be followed by Noun or Noun phrase OR Its nothing like that..

Please assist.

Dear RAHKARP27071989,I'm happy to respond.

As for Query #1, it's very very important not to confuse the verb inside the noun clause with the verb that has a noun clause as a subject. The former is inside the noun clause, while the latter is outside. Yes, it's 100% true that the latter verb, the verb that has a noun clause as a subject is always singular. Quite true. BUT, the verb inside the noun clause could have anything for a subject. How a doctor does her work is very important. How a doctors do their work is very important. In both sentences, the verb "is" has a noun clause as a subject, and so it is singular. The verb inside the noun clause is singular ("does") with a singular subject ("doctor") in the first sentence, but plural ("do") with a plural subject ("doctors") in the first sentenceThis is a very important distinction.

Now, look at the verb you cited: how rapidly the inventory acquisition and transaction occursThis is a noun clause. We just have the noun clause, nothing outside the noun clause. The verb "occurs" is the verb INSIDE the noun clause, the main verb of that clause, and so whether it is singular or plural depends on the main subject of the clause. That's why we were debating whether "the inventory acquisition and transaction" should be construed as singular. Let's take another example with a less ambiguous subject. how rapidly the many instances of inventory acquisition occurOK. This version has a clear plural subject, so it demands a clear plural verb. All this is happening inside the noun clause. To get to the kind of verb you discussed, a verb with this noun clause as a subject, we would have to put this noun clause into a larger sentence. How rapidly the many instances of inventory acquisition occursis a potential stress factor for a marketing team.Here, the plural verb "occur" is the verb inside the noun clause, and has the plural subject "many instances," and the singular verb "is" is outside the noun clause and has the noun clause as its subject.

Do you get the inside/outside problem here? A verb inside a clause can't possibly have that entire clause as its subject, precisely because it is a part of that clause.

As to your second query, in the idiomatic construction "refers to," the word "to" is just an ordinary preposition. Any ordinary preposition can have as its object either an ordinary noun, or a gerund, or a noun clause. That is a blanket rule, whether the preposition is part of some particular idiomatic expression or simply a preposition on its own in the sentence. The GMAT loves nesting other kinds of structures inside prepositional phrases; it loves nesting any kind of structure inside any other kind of structure. See this blog: Nested Grammatical Structures on the GMAT SC

Re: There is a difference in the way the term "turnover" and the term "rev
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05 Feb 2016, 10:23

dn20 wrote:

I understand why other options are wrong, but I am not entirely sure that option C is the correct option either.

C. the rapidness of inventory acquisition and transaction is called "turnover" in the United States whereas

Isnt there a modifier error in this option?something is called turnover in the US. As if the turnover is specificallyhappening in the US.

Can someone please clarify my doubt in this?

Thanks.

Dear dn20,I'm happy to respond.

First of all, in English, this is a very natural sounding construction: X is called "Y" in such-and-such place. There is absolutely no ambiguity and no grammatical or logical problem here. We also use this construction for language differences: Water is called "agua" in Spanish, "eau" in French, and "shui" in Chinese.

More broadly, notice that the prepositional phrase "in the US" is an adverbial phrase, that is to say, a verb-modifier. It causes all kinds of problems if you regard all modifiers as the same, because the rules are profoundly different for noun-modifiers (adjectival phrases & clauses) and verb-modifiers (adverbial phrase & clauses). Adjectives and noun modifiers have to be closely associated with the noun they modifier. Under many condition, noun modifiers must above the Modifier Touch Rule. By contrast, the Modifier Touch Rule is 100% irrelevant for adverbs and verb-modifiers. Verb-modifiers, which modify the action of the sentence and really function in many causes as "clause" modifiers, can go almost anywhere in the sentence. Verb modifiers have considerably fewer rules than do noun modifiers. If you start requiring all verb modifiers to follow the same strict rules that noun modifiers have to follow, you will run into a whole boatload of trouble. It's very important to understand this important distinction.

Re: There is a difference in the way the term "turnover" and the term "rev
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17 Feb 2016, 20:25

mikemcgarry wrote:

Let's look at this: There is a difference in the way the term "turnover" and the term "revenue" is used in business across the Atlantic; in the United States, "turnover" refers to how rapidly the inventory acquisition and transaction occurs whereas in Europe "turnover" refers to a company's income, known in the States as revenue.(A)way the term "turnover" and the term "revenue" is used in business across the Atlantic; in the States, "turnover" refers to how rapidly the inventory acquisition and transaction occurs whereasOK, this answer is clearly wrong. The structure "the way the term is used" is extremely casual, not formal. Also, there's a clear SVA problem: the term "turnover" and the term "revenue"isused. Compound subjects require plural verbs. This choice is 100% wrong.

Hi Mike,

I would like to ask about the SVA problem in choice A.

I thought that 'the way' is a singular subject, and it remains singular even after being added some modifier. Specifically, I thought, 'THE WAY the term turnover and the term revenue' is just one way. Hence, it takes a singular verb 'is'. If we want to specify that there are multiple WAYS, why don't we use 'the ways the term turnover and the term revenue'?

In your explanation, you said that 'the term turnover and the term revenue' are compound subjects. How about 'the way'? 'The way' is not the subject here?

Could you please point out what is wrong with my flawed reasoning? I sometimes get confused with the rules of SVA.

I very appreciate your help!Nhi

gmatclubot

Re: There is a difference in the way the term "turnover" and the term "rev
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17 Feb 2016, 20:25